Efficiency savings - NHS Evidence

Linking quality and productivity is an important challenge for the NHS if it is to reach its target of £15-20 billion in efficiency savings by 2014.The Department of Health's Quality and Productivity project has been designed to help NHS organisations make the necessary savings without compromising quality of care and services. As part of this initiative NHS Evidence now has a dedicated section NHS Evidence – Quality and Productivity, which gives access to evidence on how to improve quality and productivity within the NHS, including examples of innovative local practices. Content covers best available evidence, tools and techniques, measurement, case-studies and policy on all aspects of innovation and improvement.

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The Search is on for the Top Ten High Impact Actions for Nursing & Midwifery

A search is on for the Top Ten High Impact Actions for Nursing and Midwifery. NHS Live know that you are likely to be involved in innovative projects that improve the quality of care for patients and reduce costs. If you are a nurse or midwife, NHS Live want you to let your colleagues know about your improvement so that they can do it too! If you aren’t, but you know of some fantastic improvements being made by nursing and midwifery colleagues, please forward this on to them. This is joint initiative by the Department of Health, the Royal College of Midwives, the Royal College of Nursing, the Nursing and Midwifery Council and the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement. It is looking for changes that you have already made within your organisation that have improved quality for patients and reduced costs that, if replicated nationally, would have a huge impact on the quality and cost of patient care. The top ten actions selected will be announced at the CNO’s conference on 11 November. Click here for further information.

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Alzheimer's Society and BUPA launch Dementia Champions Programme

The new programme aims to develop in-house leaders to champion good dementia care in their place of work and was successfully piloted in six Bupa care homes before the launch. By changing the culture of the workplace, the Dementia Champions programme aims to further improve quality of care and quality of life for people with dementia. Click here for further information.

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Indicators for Quality Improvement now on NHS Information Centre Website

Phase two Indicators for Quality Improvement have now been released through the NHS Information Centre website. Around three quarters of the indicators have now been populated with the latest data, to bring together information that clinical teams can use to improve quality in one easily accessible place.
The indicators have been developed by the NHS Information Centre and Department of Health, to support the vision of High Quality Care for All. They will help NHS professionals improve the quality of care they deliver to patients, and will also support providers and commissioners of NHS services.
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IHI 21st Annual National Conference on Quality Improvement in Health Care - Share an improvement story

Does your organisation have an improvement story to share? Submit an online application to display your story as a posterboard by October 9 at the 21st Annual National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care.
For complete posterboard display information, including a sample poster, please review the Posterboard Handbook.
If you have questions regarding the Posterboard Proposal, please contact Lindsay Saternow at lsaternow@ihi.org.

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IHI Call for Abstracts on quality Improvement or New Patient Initiatives

Does your organisation have quality improvement work or a new patient initiative to share? If so, IHI are eager to hear about your work that led to an improvement. You are invited to submit an abstract that will be considered for a poster presentation or session at the IHI/BMJ International Forum on Quality and Safety in Health Care in Nice, France, on April 20-23, 2010. The deadline for submissions is September 21, 2009. By submitting an abstract you can showcase your achievements to key international opinion leaders, Communicate your organisation’s work, Enhance your organisation’s profile amd Network with others in your field.
Click here for more information or to submit your abstract now.
To find out more about the Forum, watch this video from the 2009 International Forum.

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CQC outlines quality approach for health and social care

The Care Quality Commission has published a report detailing how it plans to assess the provision and commissioning of health and adult social care in its first year. Building on the work of previous regulators, the commission is introducing an approach that assesses quality across health and social care as it moves towards a single registration system for providers of care in both sectors in 2010. The approach features both periodic and special reviews and draws attention to how the sectors of health, mental health and adult social care work together. There will also be indicators that measure the outcomes for people and their experience of care.
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Transforming Community Services: Ambition, Action, Achievement - Best Practice Guides

These best practice guides have a vital role to play in the delivery of the intentions for High Quality Care for All: the Next Stage Review. They set out ambitions, taking action and measurement of the achievement and link with, should be read in conjunction with the quality framework/quality indicators.
The best practice guides include: Transforming services for acute care closer to home, Transforming services for people with long term conditions, Transforming rehabilitation services and Transforming end of life care.

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Web-Based Program from IHI: Strategies for Reducing Expenses Without Compromising Care

Organisations often engage in quality improvement because it is seen as the right thing to do. Any financial benefit that results from these improvement efforts is considered a nice bonus but not an expected goal. Furthermore, the structures of most payment systems employed in the industry have made it difficult for providers to experience significant financial benefits from quality improvement. However, given the continued rise in health care spending, coupled with the current state of the economy, a new way of thinking is necessary. Health care administrators and clinicians need to focus on creating efficiency while simultaneously maintaining or improving quality of patient care.To help organisations achieve this goal, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) and the Healthcare Financial Management Association are co-sponsoring a three-part executive call series, Strategies for Reducing Expenses Without Compromising Care.This series of three web-based call sessions will help to create a portfolio of work that will systematically identify and eliminate waste, leading to a 1% to 3% savings in operating costs per year.

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Public sector efficiency: the case against industrialisation in service organisations

Alistair Darling’s budget outlined plans for the further industrialisation of public services – calling for the development of service ‘factories’ consolidating ‘back office’ functions and creating more contact centres.
In this provocative masterclass John Seddon, an internationally renowned pioneer in public sector reform, will argue that this course is profoundly misguided. Rather than achieving the £15bn savings projected, it will in fact lead to high cost and low quality services. Click here for further information and to register for a place.
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Think Glucose - Inpatient Care for People with Diabetes

Think Glucose is a programme designed to support Trusts to deliver a clinical pathway that improves the management of inpatients with diabetes as a secondary diagnosis.
The Think Glucose toolkit has been developed from the findings of the NHS Institute Delivering Quality and Value Diabetes project. The results were described in Focus on Inpatients care for patients with diabetes which was published in March 2008.
The toolkit has been designed to assist with improving areas identified as key to delivery of safe quality care. They have been designed and tested with front line clinical teams.
The NHS Institute will be holding a number of free Think Glucose launch events, some in conjunction with SHAs, over May and June 2009. Click here for more information and to register for a place!

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HSJ Quality Improvement Online Seminar

Substantial challenges lie ahead in the NHS. This HSJ online seminar has been tailored to help you provide quality services and experiences, and to effectively demonstrate that you are doing so. Interact in real-time with our panel of expert speakers who will tackle your concerns and ensure you are ready to deliver quality services. This free online seminar is taking place on 14 May 2009 at 9.30am, register now!

Quality Indicators in Practices with Unusual Populations Network

This network provides an open space to share, discuss and learn how PCTs are adapting indicators for practices where their populations are at variance from the norm.
The Quality Indicators in Practices with Unusual Populations Network has a private discussion forum which can be found here. Please note that, in order to access this forum, you must be a member of this network and also logged in to the NHS Networks site. The network contact is Bill May tel: 07966 598 806

Orthopaedic Rapid Improvement Programme

The Orthopaedic Rapid Improvement Programme is part of the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement; Delivering Qualityand Value (DQV) team. DQV’s work has been to discover how the top performing healthcare organisations in the NHS deliver the highest quality care with the best resource utilisation.
In this issue, there is a brief explanation of the excellent work undertaken to review and develop the high volume pathways in orthopaedics and also gives progress updates, next steps and
planned events associated with this programme.

Independent advocacy qualifications

These qualifications have been developed by the Department of Health in partnership with City & Guilds and the Welsh Assembly Government. They have been endorsed by Skills for Care and Development and Skills for Health and are about to be accredited by QCA. The qualifications have been developed to achieve quality and consistency in advocacy training. The introduction of two new forms of statutory advocacy – Independent Mental Capacity Advocates and Independent Mental Health Advocates – signalled the need for greater focus on quality and consistency across the advocacy sector. Click here for further information.

Launch of heart failure document to improve quality of care

The latest 'Focus on' document outlining the features of high quality heart failure care has been published by the Delivering Quality and Value team. ‘Focus on: heart failure’ highlights the ideal pathway and key characteristics that optimise quality of care and efficiency for heart failure patients. The prevalence of heart failure is increasing with the majority of cases due to coronary heart disease and hypertensive heart disease at a cost to the NHS of £625 million a year.
Download a copy now!

Health Foundation Closing the Gap through Clinical Communities Awards

The Health Foundation is seeking applications for Closing the Gap through Clinical Communities. These awards aim to improve the quality of care delivered to patients by bridging the gap between known best practice and the routine delivery of care. Applications may be made by experienced clinicians working as part of a multidisciplinary team including patient/service user representatives. Applications will be from organisations working together in consortia. Applicants must have a track record of delivering change in clinical quality through established networks and collaborations. Closing date for applications is Friday 27 March 2009, 5.00 pm.

NHS North West Launches Quality Improvement Programme

NHS North West is launching a voluntary quality improvement programme that it says will lead to better patient care, save lives and help hospitals save money. Forty hospitals are participating in the programme, which will financially reward hospitals that do well. For more information, visit www.advancingqualitynw.nhs.uk.

Quality Development Methodology - Using a Balanced Scorecard

PCTs have the responsibility to ensure delivery of Primary Medical Care to the whole resident population. As part of a process of improvement, one method of measurement is through the balanced scorecard approach. Primary Care Contracting (PCC) have produced two useful documents: Using a balanced scorecard and What does a balanced scorecard consist of?